Abstract
The one-instanton contributions to various correlation
functions of superconformal currents in four-dimensional
= 4 supersymmetric SU(2) Yang-Mills theory are evaluated
to the lowest order in perturbation theory.
Expressions of the same form are obtained from the leading effects
of a single D-instanton extracted from the IIB superstring effective
action around the AdS5 × S5 background. This is in
line with the suggested AdS/Yang-Mills correspondence.
The relation between Yang-Mills instantons and D-instantons
is further confirmed by the explicit form of the classical
D-instanton solution in the AdS5 × S5 background and its associated
supermultiplet of zero modes.
Speculations are made concerning instanton effects in the
large-Nc limit of the SU(Nc) Yang-Mills theory.